official: union decertifies

[pbmax]

I think I can safely say I am now decertifiably insane.

Its fun, in the way that pledging a fraternity is fun. That is to say, its a disaster that you hope is followed up with the promise of a great time, women and job offers in your future.

[swede]

Its fun, in the way that pledging a fraternity is fun. That is to say, its a disaster that you hope is followed up with the promise of a great time, women and job offers in your future.

If the disaster that is my life could be followed by a promise of a decent bowel movement, a smaller prostate, and 12 months without the car or house blowing a major function I would be pretty satisfied.

[Smidgeon]

Not that I am one to take a unions side, but is asking to know how much the owners are making off of your VERY specific skill set so out of line? I mean, the owners have a right to play with scabs after all, but they want the best. If the owners have the will power they can break this union. The NFL is ONE corporation and that is the way they should organize so they don't lose any more collusion lawsuits. They can then set the rules of play within their organization as they see fit for the future. The players can feel free to form their own leagues if they want. Jerry Jones can form his own league where he wins every year if he wants. They can both compete with the NFL. The fans will decide, and as usual, competition is whats best for fans/consumers. I say break the union. Break the monopoly. Play ball boys.

I don't think hat would really work. It would throw the draft out of whack, remove competetive parity (leaving forced parity in its wake), and limit progress and promotions to one internal hierarchy. At least with the current version (an oligopoly), competetiveness is allowing the better organizations (the Packers, Steelers, Ravens, Falcons, etc) to rise to the top while those with poorer structures and decision-making (the 49ers, Cardinals, Browns, Bengals, etc) to flounder. Plus, could you see Jerry Jones giving up ownership of the Cowboys? I admit, that would be absolutely hilarious to watch...

[rbaloha1]

Once more, with a link or context?

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/14798239/nfl-work-stoppage-looms-as-labor-talks-fail

Numerous links -- this is just one.

[pbmax]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/story/1...bor-talks-fail

Numerous links -- this is just one.

That number makes little sense in that most other reports had the NFL willing to split the difference on a $640 million divide. Even if you claim only half that figure to describe what one side might have to sacrifice for a deal, that figure far exceeds $185.

So I am still unsure what you think $185/320/640 million tells you. I made mention of the owners current situation of $1 billion off the top. The problem a fixed figure represented was the point of the post you responded too.

You seem to be commenting on the fate of the additional $1 billion they initially requested. But it isn't down to $185 million. If the sides were $640 apart from a $1 billion dollar initial divide, then splitting the difference means the increase has become about $500 million.

And that reporting has been superceded by reporting that the split the difference proposal lacked any language to deal with revenues ABOVE 4% growth. In the case of the NFL, a very familiar scenario.

[SkinBasket]

The NFLPA acting like children again. Kind of hard to believe they ever had any interest, or mental capacity, to resolve this...

The NFL Players Association is putting into place a plan that would prevent each top college prospect from attending next month's draft in New York, according to multiple league sources. The NFLPA already has contacted 17 top prospects that ordinarily would have received an invitation to attend the draft and informed them not to go.

Thus, when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announces the name of the first player selected, the player will not walk on to the stage at Radio City Music Hall as has been the custom. And the player will not be there to do interviews with ESPN or NFL Network. The draft will go on, but not in the manner in which it has been conducted before.

"As of right now, this is 100 percent happening," said one source familiar with the Players Association's thinking. "This is going down."

The Players Association even has gone so far as to consider placing the players on another competing network to do post-pick interviews, though no final decisions have been made. Another source said that, in this day and age, it's possible that the top prospects also could appear on a social media network platform, only.

[RashanGary]

It's hypocritical, the same people who want the owners to not break and make the players struggle for money are complaining when the players try to put the same type of financial pressure on the owners.

[RashanGary]

Again with your co op? The players could do just that, I mean, its so easy to build and market a 9 billion dollar a year business with zero money down. I'm suprised everyone doesn't do it.

Touche, point taken. Capitalism, even though greed is a big part of the driving force, it does seem to work a little better. I can't argue that.

I still like it when you can mix a little socialism in with it though. Keep just enough of a carrot out there for the money seekers to keep going out there diving for their treasure, but then balance it off by rewarding the regular people who just want to work a job they like, help people and have a peaceful life. They are the backbone of this country, not the billionaires. The greed does play a role though. You can't take that out. I see your point.

[gbgary]

If the disaster that is my life could be followed by a promise of a decent bowel movement, a smaller prostate, and 12 months without the car or house blowing a major function I would be pretty satisfied.

you sound like clefty.

[SkinBasket]

It's hypocritical, the same people who want the owners to not break and make the players struggle for money are complaining when the players try to put the same type of financial pressure on the owners.

It's not financial. It's petty, childlike behavior from a bunch of people who have been treated like spoiled, insanely rich children who still demand a pony with a golden saddle every year, their entire lives. And when they get what they want, they want twice that the next year.

What's hypocritical is all these fucking douche-bags who have been quoted 20 thousand times saying, "It's a business," when they fuck the team over and accept .40 cents to play somewhere else, but when the owners lay down business terms, it's all about fairness and sacrifice. Boo hoo.

[Pugger]

The NFLPA acting like children again. Kind of hard to believe they ever had any interest, or mental capacity, to resolve this...

*The NFL Players Association is putting into place a plan that would prevent each top college prospect from attending next month's draft in New York, according to multiple league sources. The NFLPA already has contacted 17 top prospects that ordinarily would have received an invitation to attend the draft and informed them not to go.

Thus, when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announces the name of the first player selected, the player will not walk on to the stage at Radio City Music Hall as has been the custom. And the player will not be there to do interviews with ESPN or NFL Network. The draft will go on, but not in the manner in which it has been conducted before.

"As of right now, this is 100 percent happening," said one source familiar with the Players Association's thinking. "This is going down."

The Players Association even has gone so far as to consider placing the players on another competing network to do post-pick interviews, though no final decisions have been made. Another source said that, in this day and age, it's possible that the top prospects also could appear on a social media network platform, only. *

This is really stupid of the NFLPA because it is proof to the world that the union decertified in name only so they could get this mess away from mediation and into the courts. And this behavior will help convince a judge too.

[Smidgeon]

*The NFL Players Association is putting into place a plan that would prevent each top college prospect from attending next month's draft in New York, according to multiple league sources. The NFLPA already has contacted 17 top prospects that ordinarily would have received an invitation to attend the draft and informed them not to go.

Thus, when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announces the name of the first player selected, the player will not walk on to the stage at Radio City Music Hall as has been the custom. And the player will not be there to do interviews with ESPN or NFL Network. The draft will go on, but not in the manner in which it has been conducted before.

"As of right now, this is 100 percent happening," said one source familiar with the Players Association's thinking. "This is going down."

The Players Association even has gone so far as to consider placing the players on another competing network to do post-pick interviews, though no final decisions have been made. Another source said that, in this day and age, it's possible that the top prospects also could appear on a social media network platform, only. *

This is really stupid of the NFLPA because it is proof to the world that the union decertified in name only so they could get this mess away from mediation and into the courts. And this behavior will help convince a judge too.

I'm pretty sure they didn't have the clout to do this even when they still were a union. The drafted players aren't part of the union until after either they are drafted or they sign a contract (don't know which--the contract makes more sense, but there was probably a provision in the now-defunct CBA defining that). Having said that, the NFLPA* is overextending itself here.

[vince]

The slave accommodations these days are an OUTRAGE!

Adrian Peterson compared his football status to slavery today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2011/03/adrian-peterson-players-place-in-nfl-like-modern-day-slavery/1?csp=34sports&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomNfl-TopStories+%28Sports+-+NFL+-+Top+Stories%29

"It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money … the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. I understand that; these are business-minded people. Of course this is what they are going to want to do. I understand that; it's how they got to where they are now. But as players, we have to stand our ground and say, 'Hey — without us, there's no football.'
...
Peterson, entering his fifth season, is due about $10.7 million in the 2011 season, the final year of a five-year contract worth about $40 million.

I don't think that's going to score points with the public.

[Bossman641]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfcnorth/post/_/id/25236/lockout11-say-it-aint-so-adrian-peterson

As we noted earlier Tuesday, Minnesota Vikings tailback Adrian Peterson is part of a new online reality show and is doing some promotional work for it. ESPN.com's interview can be found over on Page 2. But I think Doug Farrar’s interview over at Yahoo! Sports will resonate for some time.

In the interview, conducted moments after the NFL Players Association decertified last Friday and posted Tuesday, Peterson called the NFL’s arrangement with his players "modern-day slavery" and a "rip-off." He added that players "are getting robbed" and all but provided a caricature of a modern-day athlete with no touch on reality.

Here are the key quotes:

On his message to people who are tired of labor talk:

Adrian Peterson: We're business-minded, also. It's not just fun and games. A lot of football players, whether it's Sunday or Monday night -- we're out there on the field, competing, hitting each other. But people don't see everything else behind it. It's a job for us, too -- every day of the week. We're in different states, sometimes thousands of miles away from our families and kids, and a lot of people don't look at it like that. All some people see is, 'Oh, we're not going to be around football.' But how the players look at it … the players are getting robbed. They are. The owners are making so much money off of us to begin with. I don't know that I want to quote myself on that…

On other players feeling the same way:

AP: It's modern-day slavery, you know? People kind of laugh at that, but there are people working at regular jobs who get treated the same way, too. With all the money … the owners are trying to get a different percentage, and bring in more money. I understand that; these are business-minded people. Of course this is what they are going to want to do. I understand that; it's how they got to where they are now. But as players, we have to stand our ground and say, 'Hey — without us, there's no football.' There are so many different perspectives from different players, and obviously we're not all on the same page — I don't know. I don't really see this going to where we'll be without football for a long time; there's too much money lost for the owners. Eventually, I feel that we'll get something done.
But this crazy idea about an 18-game season … I'm sure they want more entertainment and more revenue, but we're not going to see a pinch of that (the increased revenue), and it's just the business we're in.

I’ve gotten to know Peterson a little bit over the past four years, visiting his house once and meeting part of his family for a profile I wrote of him in my newspaper days. Unless something has changed dramatically, I’ve always found him to be a thoughtful, earnest and charitable human being. He has in many ways been the opposite of the caricature he’s now fulfilled. But I'm sorry, I can’t offer him any defense in this instance.

Let’s skip the usual arguments about spoiled athletes and their sense of entitlement, and focus squarely on a term that should never, ever be used to describe anything -- let alone a job that will compensate Peterson $10.72 million in 2011.

There is no such thing as "modern-day slavery" unless the instance includes the complete denial of human rights, unjust incarceration and physical force used to require free work. Anything short of that is a bad deal, not "modern-day slavery." Owners might profit off players, perhaps disproportionately to what the players themselves receive, but everyone is making money and no one is there against their will.

I’m guessing Peterson intended to use the analogy to describe what he might consider an unequal distribution of the NFL’s $9 billion in revenues. Still, I hope he realizes how inappropriate it is to put the situation of NFL players anywhere in the stratosphere of slavery.

The conflict between NFL owners and players won’t be settled by public opinion. But Peterson certainly didn’t do himself or his union colleagues any favors with these series of comments. What he said was so offensive, even for someone who no track record of controversial comments, that I think it will paint both sides of this lockout with the brush of greed and inhumanity. Let me know when this whole labor thing is over. Please.

Honestly, I find both sides at fault in this fiasco but the players are really pissing me off with their childish, petty ways. Equating making $11 million a year to slavery?? Ya, ok AD.

I think the longer this goes on the more public opinion will back the owners. We already know that a lot of players are full of themselves and love to hear themselves talk. It would not surprise me in the least to see more comments like this coming out from players while the owners take a much more aligned stance.

Don't forget how public opinion swayed in Favre vs TT once Favre opened his mouth.

[Bossman641]

Adrian Peterson compared his football status to slavery today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2011/03/adrian-peterson-players-place-in-nfl-like-modern-day-slavery/1?csp=34sports&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomNfl-TopStories+%28Sports+-+NFL+-+Top+Stories%29

I don't think that's going to score points with the public.

Damnit Vince, you beat me to the punch.